A test of eight green bathroom-cleaning products

Forget the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker — if your rub-a-dub tub is filled with grime and grub, it’s time to scrub. But with what? Before you reach for just any cleaner, ask yourself whether those scrubby bubbles are going to make your bathroom surfaces even more toxic. To help you avoid soap-scummy gunk and harmful chemicals, I’ve taken a down-and-dirty look at a number of green-cleaning products.

If she’d used Borax, she’d already be at the ball.

Photo: iStockphoto

Much like when shopping for detergents, I steered the cart away from products that include phosphates (which cause harmful algal blooms) and bleach, a lung irritant. You might also look for products listed as petroleum free (for obvious, oil-related reasons) and biodegradable, as many of these products will get washed down the sink or tub after use. Read the product labels — if they have strong warnings about the product’s hazards, that’s a good sign to steer clear. Check out this handy guide [PDF] for more information.

In choosing which products to test, I grabbed a range of options — from powder to liquid sprays to cream cleansers that combine properties of both. On the advice of several Grist readers, I even tried “less-product-y products” like baking soda and Borax — and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Since I keep my own bathroom sparkling clean with a strict regimen of preventative care (ahem), I sought out a test bathroom in the home of a Grist staffer who will remain unnamed. The bathroom she shares with six roommates proved the perfect testing ground.

Grist’s Pick

20 Mule Team Borax4 lbs. 12 oz. powder$4.49

I used each product on the walls and floors of the house’s shower stalls. Most of the products cleaned well enough on the wall tile — which wasn’t as dirty to begin with. The floor was the real battleground, though, its textured surface covered in black grime. That’s where I found clean evidence of each product’s relative efficacy.

Buy one little box of this stuff and you’re set for litterbox odor control, tooth whitening, laundry, household cleaning, minor skin irritations, fridge freshening, and upset stomachs — not to mention baking, of course! It was a little messy sprinkling the powder onto the damp sponge, and I had to reapply it a number of times, but the baking soda’s grit did get some of the grime out. This one required a lot of elbow grease though — for not as much return as some of the other products.

This orange creamsicle-esque bottle lists fewer actual ingredients than it does noningredients — which is great, except that other products containing very simple ingredients out-cleaned it. The bottle said “let the microscrubbers do the work,” and I just kept waiting … but no apparent microscrubbing occurred, even after I did some macroscrubbing of my own. This guy was also the worst on the grout. But hey, it smelled yummy!

The holes at the top of this cylindrical container are grouped in the center, which made for messy pouring onto the sponge — meaning I had to clean twice (once on the tile, and once on the floor where I spilled). The upside, though, is that this stuff has barely a scent and barely an ingredient — so by default, there’s no ooky stuff inside. It required some elbow grease, but did a pretty good job cleaning off the muck.

Sign me up to be on Team Borax … aside from the messiness of it being a powder and the big, heavy box, this product was amazing! I tested it because you readers recommended it, and I have to say — y’all know what you’re talking about. Using Borax, I was able to get the shower twice as clean in half the time — almost no effort for a sparkling clean. I’m a convert! Next up: washing those soiled t-shirts in this stuff.

Ecover16 fl.oz. cream, $2.69Eco-claims: Plant-based ingredients, not based on petrochemical ingredients; no chemical residue; optimum level of biodegradability — far exceeds legislative requirements; safe for all river and marine life; no animal testing; safe for septic tanks; recognized by the United Nations for outstanding practical achievements for the protection and improvement of the environment; Ecover’s factory is built using a grass roof for insulation, wood beams from sustainable forest, and bricks made from coal mine wasteIngredients: Plant-based, nonionic, tension-active surfactants, water, chalk powder, clay, natural gum, glycerine, and 100 percent biodegradable preservativeCleaning instructions: Apply either directly to surface or onto wet sponge. Clean surface and then rinse off.Smell: slight soapy scentElbow grease required: scrub-a-dub and then someResulting sparkle: bright

The not-quite-powder-not-quite-liquid cream consistency was less messy than either alternative, but I did end up using a lot of it. Because there was some grit in the cream, I was able to scrub off more grime than I thought with less work. Overall, this would be a good choice if you didn’t want to mess with a powder.

Because it’s a spray, application on the vertical wall of tile was a bit messy as the liquid followed gravity’s call. Per the bottle’s instructions, this one didn’t require much scrubbing — but it also didn’t do much to dent the deep-set dirt. Furthermore, the smell (while more clean-smelling than some) was a bit overpowering and definitely lingered long after I finished spraying.

I really liked the clever packaging on this one — that is, until I tried to use it. Built like a powdered Parmesan cheese container, the lid required some swiveling and poking. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be child-proof or just dummy-proof, but either way, I failed. It wasn’t until my lovely assistant suggested I poke the top with a pen that I was able to get it open. And even then, the powder lingered on the cap after I poured it onto my sponge — much like powdered Parm. For the amount of scrubbing (not much), there was good return sparkle-wise, but the scent — pretty as a perfume, but overpowering for the bathroom — was too much for me.

It was nice to spray on this cleaner and leave it for a few minutes (though it dripped down the tile walls), then come back and have the grime in the grout wipe clean without much effort. This might also work in a shower stall that starts out fairly clean. But for this grimy floor, it couldn’t do the trick — no matter how much I scrubbed.

The bottom line: Forget complicated ingredient lists, fancy spray bottles, and flowery fragrances. We suggest you join Team Borax and use the power of 20 mules to get bathroom surfaces sparkling for little effort and even less moola.